Eight is EnoughThe Essentials of B2B Marketing

@ToddEbertCMO, MultiView

The 8 Essentials of B2B Marketing

Know your customer journey

Always be helping

Create marketing so good people would pay for it

Promote the power trio

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Simmer your leads

Get in bed with Sales

Cultivate continuous improvement culture

Build products that sell themselves

1. Know Your Customer Journey

customer journey map icon by Yu luck from the Noun Project

If you don’t know where you want to go then any road will take you there.

— Cheshire Cat to Alice in Wonderland

How do YOU buy today?

SearchDo you use your mobile

phone to instantly research products and

services?

SurfDo you see ads and form impressions of

businesses and products?

SocializeDo you share your

buying experiences with hundreds, even

thousands, of others?

Now think about your ideal buyer. Who are they? And how do they buy your types of products?

If you don’t

know where they gohow will you reach them?

We now self-educate online and complete 70% of the buying journey before contacting vendors!

You Must Be Present To Win*

*If you’re not there, your competitors are.

Buying Journey NowThen

Marketing

Sales

Marketing

Sales

Explore

Research

Evaluate

Validate

Unaware / Passive

Purchase

THENRepGuided

• Customers have tons of information at their fingertips online and complete 70% of the buying journey before engaging vendors to get proposals

• Businesses must have robust digital marketing to educate/pre-sell the customer during their research. If they aren’t present they can’t win the battle for consideration.

• Customers have little information so they engage several vendor sales people early in the journey to learn about their product

• Businesses must have lots of sales people in order to entertain / educate / sell customers

Explore & Research Many Potential Vendors Online Solicit Few Proposals

Consider Vendors

NOWSelfGuided

$

$

Meet With Lots of Vendor Sales People

Over 70% complete!

28%

@ 6% 24%

Online7.6 Hours

Daily Media Consumption

1%Search

Email / IM

Surf Content

Surf Social Media

Shop Online

19% Surf Video

Offline7.0 Hours

@

49% of digital media consumption is now on mobile devices

The Journey Occurs Online!

23%

You Need To Reach Buyers Digitally at EVERY Stage!

Do I have a problem?

Who can solve it?

Who should solve it?

Do I want to solve it? How?

Buyers do their own research online. On average, they are 70% through the journey before even contacting a sales rep.

Should I buy again?

Unaware

Explore

Research

Evaluate

Validate

Purchase

Renew

Advocate

70%

BUY

A detailed breakdown of how digital media influences each step of the B2B buying journey and how to accelerate your prospects’ path to purchase.

GET THE EBOOK

2. Always Be Helping

If people like you they'll listen to you, but if they trust you they'll do business with you.

— Zig Ziglar

Change Your Mindset!

WantedEducates

Provides unique insightsSolves their problems

AlwaysBe Helping

UnwantedInterrupts, irritates

Kills trustHurts brand

AlwaysBe Closing

There’s Only One Way to Win …

GiveValue.

GetValue.

To

3. Create Marketing So Good They’d Pay For It

Content – education / insight on a key issue

Tools / Apps - tools that help identify and solve issues

Expertise – evaluation / assessment with detailed recommendations

Products – trials that enable customers to experience the value

MoreValuable

Less Valuable

Lower Commitment Higher Commitment

You need to create stuff that is so good that your prospects:

• Are impressed enough to engage• Give you their

contact info• See you as an

expert• Look forward to

your emails

Give Value to Get Value

Level 1 – Educational & Helpful Content

Level 2 – Free Tools / Apps

• Provide a useful service

• Identify real issues

• Recommend improvements

• Capture contact for nurturing

Level 3 – Free Expert Assessment

• Provide a useful service

• Identify real issues

• Recommend improvements

• Capture contact for nurturing

Level 4 – Freemium Products

• Eliminate barriers to trial

• Prove the value of your product

• Market higher tiers of your product

4. Promote the Power Trio

If businesses are not visible online when people are doing their homework, believe me, they’ll find others who are.

— Jim Lecinski, Managing Director, Google

You MUST Be Present To WinEnsure that people know and consider your brand…

Before They Need Your Solutions

During Their

Research

Through Their Evaluation

Process

After TheyBecome aCustomer

OWNEDMEDIAWebsiteBlogSocial PagesEmail

EARNEDMEDIAPR Stories Social SharesReviews

PAID MEDIADisplay AdsSearch Ads Social AdsRetargeting Ads

The Trio Works Together To Maximize Reach & Impact

You need digital advertising! It’s the best way get your message in front of prospects at every step of their journey. If you’re not present you can’t win.

You need a great website! It creates the critical first impression that wins or loses their business so you must impress them enough to contact you.

You need subscribers and social followers! They turn into future leads, customers and advocates. They create your “word-of-mouth”.

1996

2016

= Calls

Paid: Brand Marketing + Social Marketing + Intent Marketing

= Leads

+

+Plumbing

Experts

+

+

Paid: Capture Attention at Every Step of Their Journey

EXPLORING

RESEARCHING

EVALUATING

VALIDATING

PURCHASING

Owned & Earned: Build a Resource Hub, Fill It with Great Stuff, Share Socially

Content Type Monthly

Blog Posts 12Ebooks 2

Infographics 1

Social Posts 200+Testimonial Videos 2

Case Studies 2

Expert Videos 2

Bylined Articles 2

Memes 2

Explainer Videos 1

How To Guides 1

Everything Influences Every Step!

Explore

Research

Evaluate

Validate

Unaware / Passive

Purchase

5. Simmer Your Leads

We live in a Match.com world; many buyers and sellers “meet” for the first time online. In fact the entire purchase process may start and end without a single face-to-face interaction.

Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales ready leads at 33% lower cost (a) 

Nurtured leads produce a 20% increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads (b)

Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads (c)

Prospects Complete the Majority of Their Buying Journey Online Then Contact a Few Vendors for Proposals

$

70%

Most Leads are Not Ready to Talk to You Yet…So Nurture Them

Sources: a. Forrester, b. Gleanster, c. Annuitas

Simple Nurture: Warm Them Up With Flow of Useful Content

Again, give value to get value. Only send emails with helpful content.

Awareness Campaign Consideration Campaign Buyer Campaign

Advanced Nurture: Complex Series Triggered by Prospect Actions

Nurture: Feed Your Sales Team Steady Stream of Warm Leads

• Provide reps daily prioritized list of “Best Bets”

• Give insights on content they consumed

• Enable reps to have the right conversations at the right time

6. Get in Bed with Sales

Create a Dedicated “Smarketing” Team*

One charter One set of SLAs One set of KPIs One feedback loop One dashboard

Jointly accountable &

rewarded

*Smarketing = integrated demand generation team

0

2 5 8 9

14131110

17 21 22 24

4030 - ?

27

91

SMB visitswebsite and downloads ebook

Customer Both

Marketing sends nurture emailwith helpful content piece

Rep listens to customer’s social media & engages

Rep sends send email with unique insight

Customer checks email triggering increase in lead score

Rep calls after seeing lead inSFDC

Rep email with video & webinar about Edge

Co. watches video & checks # pages on blog/website

Rep calls

Nurturing emailwith Edgedifferentiation

First meeting Marketing sends nurture email with case study and testimonialin vertical

Company replies with questions

2nd meeting – Rep uses tool to send contract Rep coordinates go-

live of the product

Calls Rep with questions

Buys second product and series continues

Company

Rep sends thanks email

Rep email thankyou and proposalfrom SFDC

Rep schedules2nd meeting

Co. agrees to meetingRep emails appointmentconfirmation

Have Integrated Conversations with the Customer

90Rep uses insights to send upsell email about need for another product

Lead Pipeline Planned & Coordinated Series of Touches

Follow-up with Website Lurkers Who Might Be Leads

• Identify companies visiting your site who leave without converting [like Caller ID for your site]

• Give names of highly engaged companies to Sales for proactive outreach

• Capitalize on leads you otherwise wouldn’t have known about

Build Great Content Experience for Sales [“Always Be Helping”]

Prospecting Meeting Following-up Closing OnboardingCapture attention and create great first impression that you are the best, most helpful, etc.

Create wow moments that get them to engage and then take the next step

Stay top-of-mind & provide content that shows the value prop and differentiates you

Provide validation that you are best option and enable champion to convince senior decision-makers

Build trust through great onboarding experience, and showcase the great value you are providing

• Video “commercials”• Infographics• Blog posts• Industry news• Free tools / apps• Product trials• Ebooks• Assessments• Industry survey results• Quizzes• Memes• Webinars• Tips & Tricks articles• Curated lists

• Pitch decks• Interactive pitch via

website• Interactive demos• Sample reports• Use case examples

• Custom proposal• Recorded demo• Product collateral• Product videos• Expert webinars

• Industry analyst reports• Customer testimonials• Customer reviews• Case studies• Total cost of ownership

calculator• Pricing / ROI tool• Competitive comparisons• Deck/business case for

champion to provide to signers

• Thank you note with SWAG

• How to videos [e.g. understanding reports]

• Product guides• Customer webinars• User groups• Customer newsletters• Resource centers• Blog posts on key issues

7. Cultivate Continuous Improvement Culture

Great Marketing is Simple...

Right Mix of Paid & Earned Media that Reaches Targets

Compelling Content, Tools & Offers that Drive Conversions

Modern Website & Blog that Impress All Visitors

Great Nurturing that Warms Up Leads Until Ready to Buy

…but requires a ton of tweaks and changes

Acroym from this – simple telegraphic comm.Build one pager like Lora’s

Lead Lifecycle Reporting/Tracking [with estimated conversion rates]

Inquiry Contact Us +

Converted CTA:Ebooks, Webinars, etc.

(Not Sales Ready)

Engagement# of Inquries

By Source By Channel

MCLMeets You Defined

Criteria

(Not Sales Ready)

Score# of MCLsBy TypeBy SourceBy Channel

MQLMCL Score exceeds

MQL threshold

(Sales Ready)

Score# of MQLsBy SourceBy TypeBy Channel

SALSales engaged with

MQL and accepts lead

(Sales Engaged)

# of SALsBy SourceBy TypeBy Channel

48% 97%SQO

Met BANT criteria converted to opportunity

(Sales Opportunity)

# of SQOsBy SourceBy TypeBy Channel

40%

35% Closed

(Opportunity Closed)

# Closed Won# Closed LostBy SourceBy TypeBy Channel

# 22%

Track and Optimize Your Leads Pipeline To Improve Conversion at Each Stage

You Can’t Improve What You Don’t Measure

Test & Optimize Everything – The Devil is in the Details• PPC keywords/ads • SEO keywords• Retargeting ads• Website• Lading pages• Blog/Resource Ctr.• Social pages• Mobile optimization• Reputation SEO• Reviews• Live Chat

• Data sourcing• Data quality• Data appending• List compiling• Lead scoring• Directed calls/plays• Call methodology• Insights tools• Employee sharing• Tradeshows• Seminar series

• Intake coverage• Intake response

time• Nurture campaigns• Videos -

Testimonials• Sales response time• Sales response time• Reference clients• Solution

presentation• Presentation tool• Proposal tool

• Product bundles• Promotional pricing• Specific offers• Videos - product• Sales comp/spiffs

• Freemium products• Free apps/utilities• Email marketing• Webinars• Social campaigns• Display campaigns• Traditional ads• Ad creative• Content types• A/B Testing• PR / Media Stories

• QA process/updates• Sales methodology• Sales email templates• Appointment setters• Lead nurturing campaigns

• Live demos• Demo tool• Collateral• Reference clients• Onboarding• Nurturing

campaigns

• Proactive account recommendations

• Special promos• Upsell emails • Product insights

delivered

Attr

act

Conv

ert

Clos

e

Live & Die By Your DashboardTraffic, Leads, etc. are important, but your ultimate goal is to improve: • CAC – cost to acquire customer• LTV – lifetime value of customer• LTV/CAC • % revenue Marketing Sourced Leads• % revenue Marketing Influenced

Leads

*Sirius Decisions

Best-in-class B2B companies generate 50% of revenue from marketing sourced leads*

8. Build Products That Sell Themselves

B2C Companies Build Marketing INTO Their Products

Personalize recommendations based on customer behaviors.

Increase cross-sell/upsell/retention with no sales cost.

B2B Companies Must Up Their Game

• Your customers have been conditioned to expect a great experience

• You can use milestones and insights to suggest other products

• You can increase average revenue per customer without Sales cost

Guiding Principles

Focus on the Customer, Customer, Customer…Talk about what they need, not what you sell – ”always be helping”Map everything you do to their buying journey

Give Value to Get ValueAvoid “get rich quick” campaigns at all costsCreate content customers actually want

Get a ‘Two-fer’ From All That You DoBuild everything for inbound marketing to pull in leads AND as a tool for outbound selling by your reps

Integrate EverythingRun holistic campaigns with multiple tactics ALL centered on a customer insight or pain pointDrive prospects to the site, impress them enough to fill out your form and then nurture those precious leads

From Fortune 100 enterprises to technology startups, I’ve spent twenty-five years with my sleeves rolled up leading B2B marketing teams that drive growth. Lately I’ve been marketing digital marketing software and services that help other B2B marketers connect with more customers. I believe that marketing is the biggest key to success in today’s hyper-competitive market, and companies who don’t understand that fact will ultimately fail. When I’m not working, I’m a Snapple drinking, chili pepper growing, craft beer loving, volleyball coaching, bad golfing, Longhorn cheering husband and father.

About Me

toddebert.com

twitter.com/toddebert

linkedin.com/in/toddebert

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